This fascinating book details the appalling physical and psychological abuse he endured which left permanent scars on his body and his mind. The Whitman family made every effort to appear as the quintessential upper middle-class family to be admired and emulated but this was only a shiny façade concealing a dark truth. From his childhood spent trying, yet never quite managing, to gain the approval of his domineering and abusive father to his service as a marine and, ultimately, to his time as a young husband and college student, the life of Charles Whitman was never what people were led to believe. In what is, in my opinion, Ryan Green’s best work yet, the life and horrifying crimes of Charles Whitman are explored. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to listen to it. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the listener into the real-life horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.Ĭaution: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. The Texas Tower Sniper is a chilling account of one of the largest campus shootings in American history. The world needed to know his name and what he was truly capable of, for the rest of time. He wouldn’t go silently into suicide and oblivion.

He wasn’t going to slide into mediocrity. He needed to put an end to his trajectory. struggled to control his inner thoughts and temper, and his life started to unravel. He could not live up to the impossible expectations set by his father, nor could he accept his failures.Ĭharles, Jr. Growing up under the brutal rule of Charles, Sr.

Lethargy or failure were unacceptable and resulted in violence. made sure his family wanted for nothing, and in return, he demanded perfection. From the outside, the Whitmans appeared to be living the American dream but within the household, lay a much darker reality. was born and raised with his two younger brothers in a nice neighborhood in the suburbs of Lake Worth, Florida.

Charles whitman childhood